Projectiles with intentionally induced roll rates about their longitudinal axes have significant advantages over roll stabilized projectiles. The roll concept has been applied to air and surface launched missiles and projectiles. The projectile may be spun up initially by the launcher to several revolutions per second. With such a roll rate, it is possible to utilize a single control plane to guide the projectile in all three earth related axes.
An example of a control device for missiles utilizing a rotating body is demonstrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,054,254 wherein steering control is accomplished by varying the incidence of two canard surfaces at the proper point in the rotation of the rolling airframe to guide the airframe in the desired direction.
Another example of a control device for rolling projectiles is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,868,883. This patent discloses a line of sight guidance system which can be used with the wobble nose projectile construction of the present invention.
A simple and inexpensive construction has been sought for controlling small supersonic ground launch projectiles generally used against targets at a distance of three or four kilometers for example. Such a construction must be rugged and easy to handle.